The Inside
by fanwriter1245
Summary: An Observer is killing people with a special box and it's up to the Fringe Team to put a stop to the killings. Filled with LOTS of Polivia moments :))) *Takes place after the events of Season 2: Momentum Deferred*


**Fringe: **The Inside

Based on characters created by J.J. Abrams

A person walked around in the city carrying a box that looked similar to a jewelry box. No, it wasn't a person. This man had no eyebrows, was very pale and bald, and wore a suit with a matching fedora. He was what they called an Observer. They were everywhere, watching the people as they went on with their daily lives. Very few times did they ever get involved and usually when they did, the results were disastrous.

This particular Observer had a plan. He had seen the possible futures and knew that there was only one way around the destruction that should happen. He set the box down on the ground near a small building. He pushed a button on the box, looked at his watch, and walked away. Not even a few seconds after he was several feet from the box, it exploded. Flames engulfed several of the buildings and all of the people around the box. The Observer watched for a few seconds more before walking away.

Must watch: watch?v=zruY8dSf1Xk&t=0m21s

Awakened by her alarm, Olivia Dunham got up, showered and dressed, and proceeded to make herself breakfast. Her sister, Rachel, and her niece, Ella, were apartment-hunting still. Rachel was considering moving closer to her sister and away from her terrible husband.

Olivia's phone went off. She checked the Caller ID and saw that it was Agent Broyles.

"Yes, sir?" she answered.

"Get the Bishops. The Observers are back."

"Yes, sir. We'll be there in just a few minutes."

"Be quick."

Olivia sighed as she hung up her phone. She longed for a day without a case. One could dream. She called the Harvard lab where Walter and Peter Bishop worked. They both jumped at the idea of working with Observers again. There were still so many questions regarding the Observers and they might finally be able to acquire the answers they so direly craved.

The three of them met in Broyles' office. He handed them a file with pictures of the event that had just happened a few hours ago. Several severely burned bodies lay strewn all over the place along with a few destroyed buildings.

"How fantastic," Walter murmured. Peter looked at him and rolled his eyes.

"The source of this whole horrific event was this box." Broyles showed them a picture of the small box the Observer had been carrying.

"Wait," Peter interrupted. "So how was everything else scorched, and this little box didn't fry with everything?"

"We don't know. Come check the video footage." They all walked to the computers and viewed the feed from a traffic cam. They watched as an Observer set down the box and walked away. There was an explosion and the feed cut off.

"It was a miracle we were able to salvage that with the amount of damage there was to the tape."

"That's not the same Observer we've been seeing," Olivia said.

Peter looked at the feed again, and realized she was right. "There's more than one?" he said.

"So an Observer comes and just decides to blow up everything?" Olivia confirmed. "Well, if I know one thing, these guys don't usually do things without a reason."

"We have the box down in evidence. I want you three to figure out what it did and to see if we can find any of these Observers," Broyles told them. "Just be careful. We don't need that box blowing up again."

"Yes, sir," Olivia said as she went to collect the box.

"Hi," Olivia said to the agent down in the evidence room, while Walter waited outside. They didn't want to risk him messing up any evidence. "Um, we need to see the box that was brought down a few hours ago."

"I'll get that for you right now, Agent," the young man answered.

Olivia tapped on the desk with her fingers while she waited.

"Hey," Peter said as he lightly touched her hand. "I know you're still weirded out about the whole visiting-the-Other-Universe thing."

"I'm fine."

"You know, Olivia, you can only say that so many times before the truth will come out," he laughed.

"I mean, you can't imagine what it's like to talk with a man like William Bell in another universe no less."

"You're right. I can't imagine that. I know it's been difficult on you. It's shown in your face for the past few days."

"It was terrible not remembering what happened to me. But at the same time, I wish that I didn't remember the whole thing."

"Olivia, what happened to you is going to help us keep the universes from colliding." He looked at her. "I know that's not the only thing on your mind. Look. Charlie…" Peter paused, knowing this was a tough subject for her. Her partner, Charlie Francis had been killed not long ago by a shapeshifter. The worst part was that Olivia soon figured out that the shapeshifter was posing as Charlie and was forced to shoot him. Even though it was a shapeshifter, she felt like she had shot Charlie. "He was a great agent and an even better friend. This can't be easy for you. I know that. But it wasn't him. It was someone who looked like him, but was not him."

Olivia sighed and didn't respond.

The agent came back carrying the box in a plastic bag. "Here you go."

"Thanks. We'll get it back as soon as possible."

The two exited the room and they all went up to Olivia's office to take a look at the box. Once there, Olivia opened the box carefully, afraid it might go off again if opened. While it didn't explode, what they found was unlike anything they'd ever seen. The tech in the box was years ahead of the technology they had around at the present time.

"Whoa," Peter exclaimed. "Even I can't figure out that tech. That's way ahead of me."

"So how are we supposed to figure out what we can't explain?"

"Isn't that every case?" Peter asked.

Olivia smiled. "Good point."

"Olivia," Walter started. "I may have a solution."

Olivia sat in Harvard lab while Walter explained what he could do.

"Belly and I tested a drug that allows one to find another person. We could use it to find missing people and connect with whomever we wanted to. It works well, however, it's painful, and it's rather dangerous. The drug puts you in a state of mind in which you are almost sleeping, but you can still communicate. But if you lose touch with the outside world, it's impossible to say how long it will take you to come out."

Astrid, Walter's assistant, looked at him. "That sounds so unsafe."

Olivia looked at them. "I'll do it."

Astrid and Peter looked at her like she was crazy. "Olivia, are you serious?" Peter said.

"It may be our only way to find the Observer."

"I'll get the drug ready. Peter, prep her please," Walter said.

Peter sighed and pulled out the gurney they kept in the lab. Olivia took off her jacket revealing her usual blue and white blouse underneath. She rolled up one of her sleeves to allow for a needle while Peter placed some electrodes on her forehead.

Walter came back with some blue liquid in a medical bag used for saline and attached it to a pole. He took a needle and inserted it into Olivia's arm. She winced as the liquid began to flow through her veins and burned her arm.

"Hey, it's okay," Peter said to her as he squeezed her hand. She squeezed it back as the pain started to intensify. Her head started to feel foggy and her eyes drooped. Soon, Olivia was not in the lab anymore.

Everything became fuzzy. Olivia tried to make out something, anything, but nothing was discernible.

"Olivia," she heard Walter say. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," she answered. "I think I see the Observer." Things began to focus and she could make out a man in a suit and hat. "He has a box. It's about to happen again."

Peter looked at Walter.

Olivia began to seize.

"Whoa, Walter, what's happening?" Peter yelled as he tried to hold her down.

"I was afraid this might happen," he answered. "Agent Dunham is experiencing something common with this drug. Sometimes it doesn't react well with the body and causes a seizure."

"Will she be okay?"

Before Walter could answer, Olivia suddenly went limp.

"What happened?" Peter asked again.

"Agent Dunham, can you hear me?" Walter asked. There was no response. "I'm afraid she's slipped in too far. She must come out herself."

"How long will that take?"

"Hard to say. This is like regular sleep. She's simply having contact with the Observer instead of her mind creating false images. However, not everything in her mind will be correct. Everything with the Observer will be, but there's no telling what else will be true and what won't."

In her mind, Olivia was forced to witness the soon-to-be explosion of another box. The Observer was setting it up. She looked at the crowd of people, and saw Peter among them, looking at the Observer.

"Peter," she whispered.

In the lab, Peter jumped at the sound of his name. "Olivia?"

"She's still under," Walter told him. "You're in her 'dream'."

Olivia started to toss and turn on the gurney, saying Peter's name over and over again, each one louder than the previous one. Peter tried to hold her down again as she struggled against him, arms flailing.

She witnessed Peter go after the Observer, and the box explode as he was caught in the flame.

"PETER!" she screamed as she bolted upright on the gurney, Peter's arms around hers, trying to stabilize her. She gasped as looked at the two of them and at Astrid, who looked on with curious eyes. She had learned nothing. Nothing at all.

December and September sat in a café together awaiting the arrival of another. They both took a can of hot sauce and pepper and poured all of it on their already spicy chicken. Soon, another Observer entered and sat down with them.

"You are messing with the timeline," December stated.

The Observer looked at him. "I am preventing horrible futures from happening."

"We are meant to observe, not to interfere."

"I am doing it for the good of those who would be killed in another time."

"You must cease what you are doing before you completely destroy the timeline."

The Observer got up and left as he pulled the same box from his briefcase.

Olivia was mortified. Everyone in the lab had heard her say Peter's name. She admitted that she did have something stirring for him, as much as she tried to push the feelings down. He had just always been there for her, and she found herself desiring to be close to him. They had both been through so much already together. She didn't want it to end.

Even worse, the box had been stolen from them. Obviously that was what Olivia saw. The Observer using the same box. This was awful.

"Olivia."

Olivia turned and saw the same Observer the FBI had been seeing at many different cases.

"I am September. You need to help us. One of us is going rogue. He is messing with the timeline. You must stop him before he causes any more damage." He cocked his head slightly to the side. "You're troubled."

Olivia just looked at him.

"You're looking for the one who you must stop. You will never find him with your ways."

"Then how do we stop him?" she asked hesitantly. Was she really having this conversation?

September disappeared and reappeared behind Olivia. He moved her golden blonde hair from her neck and took a device with a purple tip that looked very similar to a laser pointer. He quickly put it to her neck. Olivia gasped from the sudden pain she felt. She turned around as she grabbed her neck.

"I've implanted a special device in you. It will allow you to find him and stop him. You must go into Walter Bishop's tank."

_How do you know Walter Bishop? _she thought.

"The device erases the risks of injury from the tank. You must hurry. Time is limited."

He turned on his heels and walked in the other direction. Olivia stared after him, still grasping her neck, imagining what he could have possibly done to her.

"Walter," Olivia called, bursting through the lab doors. "Prep the tank. I need to go in."

Walter stared at her.

"Olivia, why would you possibly need to go in the tank again?" Peter asked.

She looked at him. "I talked with the Observer."

"You mean the one who's going around killing everyone?"

"No, the one we've seen multiple times. He says his name is September."

"You talked to one of them?"

She nodded. "We haven't got much time. I need the tank prepped now."

"Agent Dunham," Walter said. "The risks involved are phenomenal. I don't know if I can allow it. Surely there must be another way to find the Observer."

"It's okay, Walter." She turned around and moved her hair, revealing the mark September had left on the back of her neck.

"Whoa," Peter exclaimed. "What did he do to you?" Peter touched the mark. He didn't know what to make of it. Would it harm her? There was no way he could allow that.

"He did something to me and said that the device he inserted would erase any risks from the procedure. He said that this was the only way to find the Observer."

"Well, I don't doubt that the tech the Observers have goes far above our own," Walter said. He paused. "Alex. Get the tank ready. I believe it's time to find our friend."

Astrid glanced at Walter, then Olivia, then went to go get the procedure ready. This was at least the fifth time. And it wasn't going to be any better than the last.

Olivia lay down in the cold water in Walter's tank, sending goosebumps throughout her body. Once again, she had had a needle put into her neck with an anesthetic. Then she had Walter put in an electric probe. It had hurt even more this time because of the mark September which was terrible because it already hurt a great deal. She still vividly remembered the first time she went into the tank. She wanted to save her boyfriend, John Scott. This was the first time the electric probe had been inserted. It was way more painful than she had ever expected. Once it had seared into her flesh, she fell over into Peter's arms to balance herself. Despite the fact that she was with John, she admitted that she had felt a pang of feelings for him in that moment. She still could hear him whisper, "I've got you. I've got you," as he led her over to a chair to finish prepping her. She had been grasping onto him for at least 10 seconds before she finally let herself let go of him. In truth, even though she had just met him, being clutched in his embrace was a new experience. It was something she had never felt with John. She had denied it at the time, but she knew it was true.

Olivia closed her eyes and prepared to find the Observer.

"Olivia," she heard Walter's voice say. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"You must listen to me at all times. Tell me, what do you see?"

"I'm somewhere, but it's all very fuzzy."

"Just wait. It will begin to focus."

Olivia waited a few seconds as her surroundings became clearer. Trees began to form along with green grass.

"I'm in a forest," she said. The Observer walked into the forest, carrying the usual briefcase and wearing the suit and fedora. "I see the Observer. He has the box." He pushed a button on the box and a capsule came out of the ground. He put the box in it and made the capsule disappear again. He looked at the ground. Then he looked up at Olivia.

"He sees me," she said, her breath catching in her throat.

Outside the tank, everyone became concerned.

"Walter, I thought you said no one in here could see her," Peter said.

"She's in here because of Observer tech. The same rules don't apply," he answered.

Inside her own mind, Olivia's breathing quickened, knowing that the Observer definitely could see her.

"What should I do?" she asked. There was no answer as Walter had none. "Walter?" she whispered.

The Observer walked over to her. Olivia began to back up but ended up having her path blocked by a tree. By the time she had moved around it, the Observer was in front of her.

"September sent you, didn't he?" he asked. "They do not understand that I am simply helping. I am killing murderers and criminals. Now they will not harm anyone."

"This isn't the answer," Olivia whispered.

"You do not understand anymore than they do."

"I know that this is not the solution."

"Stay out of the way."

The Observer grabbed her wrists and slammed her against another tree. Olivia saw stars for a few brief seconds. She struggled against his firm grip.

"I am helping," he said.

Inside the tank, Olivia was thrashing in the water wildly. Walter became nervous. He knew what he had to do. September had said that the risk was gone and he prayed that he meant here too.

"Prepare some dextroamphetamine!" he yelled to Astrid.

As Astrid went to go get it, she said to herself, "Oh, not again."

"Peter, we need to pull her out. Something's happening with the Observer, and it's not good."

Peter ran to the tank as fast as he could. He needed to get Olivia out of there. Whatever was happening was making her afraid, and he had to stop it. Walter put a warm towel on the ground for her. Peter threw open the heavy doors and saw Olivia kicking her arms and legs wildly, stirring up the water. He put his arms under hers and hauled her out as Walter unplugged the probe. Astrid got her legs out of the tank and they both laid her on the towel. Astrid then put the dextro in her leg just like before. Olivia continued to kick her legs and her arms, her eyes still closed as she continued to see the Observer. Peter held her wrists firmly trying to help her calm down.

"Olivia!" he yelled. "Olivia, wake up!"

Her eyes popped open and she stopped kicking as Peter still held her wrists. She gasped, trying to regain her breathing and remember where she was. Peter released his grip on her and moved her wet hair out of her face as she started to calm down.

She looked up at him. "Peter," she whispered.

"It's me," he said softly as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm here. You're okay."

She gripped his shoulder, glad to be comforted in his embrace, somewhere she felt safe, even after an encounter with an Observer.

Olivia got a team together and they all went after the box in the forest she had seen while in the tank. Once again, everyone questioned how she possibly knew the answers, but they would never get their answer. They probably wouldn't believe her anyway.

She went to the place where she had seen the Observer place the box. "Okay," she called out. "The box is right here underground." Some of the team started digging and after about half an hour, they came across the capsule Olivia had seen. Now was the tough part. Opening it.

"Okay, let's carefully bring it back to Broyles. If the box is in there, we don't want it exploding."

Several of them gently picked up the capsule and put it in the truck. They drove back to Broyles' office and Olivia brought the capsule to him. He was dumbfounded.

"Where did you get this, Dunham?" her asked.

"Let's just say Walter helped me and leave it at that."

"Well, what are you going to do with it now?"

"Well, we can't get it open. We don't have the tech."

"Go see Nina. I bet she has someone over there who can help you."

"Yes, sir."

"And Dunham. Be careful with that thing."

"Brandon!" Nina called out in of her many, many labs. The man who had helped them with so many cases before came running to the group.

"Yes, Ms. Sharp?"

"We have some tech we need you to analyze and open. It's critical that this get done as soon as possible," Nina explained.

Brandon looked at the capsule and a grin broke out on his face. "This should be fun."

Nina turned to Olivia. "I'll call you when we have it open and not a second later."

"Thank you. I'll be in touch."

Just a few hours later, Olivia got the call. And it wasn't a good one. Once again, the box had been taken from right under them. Luckily, Brandon had figured out how to deactivate it before it was stolen. Olivia had seen the next location while she had been in the tank and knew where the Observer planned to set up the box. She got another team together and she and Peter set out to go stop the next explosion, while Walter stayed with Astrid in the lab.

They arrived at a large house with at least four floors right in the center of Boston.

"Alright!" Olivia called out to her team. "Search everywhere. You all know what you're looking for! Let's move!"

Olivia went into the building first as everyone else followed. They were all armed as they searched every floor of the place. Only one person was home at the time. One of the officers evacuated him from the building as the rest of them continued searching.

Olivia was getting discouraged that after 10 minutes, they still hadn't found the box. She had no idea when it was supposed to go off. They were all in danger.

There was a small overhang on the second floor on the back of the building. Olivia climbed onto it from one of the windows. She hoped that getting out here would help her think of where exactly the Observer had hid the box. She thought about it and thought about it and then she could just barely remember a fuzzy image of a living room. As she thought about it harder, she started to remember more about it. It had a specific picture in it that she could just barely remember. But she had something to go on. She started to head back in through the window when the Observer appeared in front of her. His appearance caught her off-guard and she lost her footing on the slanted roof. She slid down it and managed to grab onto the edge before she fell. She hung onto the roof for dear life.

"I warned you," the Observer said flatly. And he disappeared again.

Olivia tried desperately to pull herself up, but found it impossible. There was nothing to grab on, and the slant didn't help.

"OLIVIA!"

Olivia felt an immense amount of relief at the sound of her name and the voice of the person who said it. Someone had seen her. Not just anyone. Peter.

"It's okay."

"The Observer was here."

"Olivia, don't worry about that right now. We need to get you down."

Olivia felt her hold on the roof start to slip.

"Peter!" she called out. "I'm starting to slip!"

"Just hang on! I'm going to get help!"

"Peter! Please don't leave me!"

"It's okay. I'm right here. I'll stay right here with you."

One of Olivia's hands gave out. She tried her best to hold on with her other hand, but it was quickly weakening. "Peter!" Olivia's other hand gave out and she was falling. The wind whistled in her ears. She let out a short scream as the world rushed past her. After what seemed like an eternity, she wasn't falling anymore. She looked up. She had landed in Peter's arms. He had caught her. She wasn't injured except for some sore hands.

Peter looked at her and smiled, relieved that he had caught her. If anything happened to her, he couldn't live with himself. He set her down on the ground.

Olivia gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

"All in a day's work."

Olivia ran back into the house and went to the room she had seen. After some brief searching, she finally found the box. She dismantled it the way Brandon had shown them. A light in the box went off and she knew it had been shut down. She leaned back on her knees and sighed, thankful this was finally over.

The truth was Olivia was really embarrassed she had looked so weak hanging there on the roof. Something like that had never happened to her before. But she had to admit, she loved falling into Peter's arms. In fact, this whole case, her feelings for him had grown much stronger. So many things had happened between both of them. It was something Olivia couldn't put into words.

September appeared behind Olivia while she was walking back to her apartment.

"You stopped him."

"Thanks to you. What did you do to me?"

"It is a device only Observers are allowed to use. But you are different. The Cortexiphan in your system allows your body to accommodate with the device."

"So what happens now with the Observer?"

"We have removed the tech from him that gives us our abilities. He is now one of you. I've seen his future. He will not hurt anymore people."

He cocked his head again.

"You are wondering if the device in you still works."

"Well, yeah. I don't what it does to me, now that I've found the Observer."

The Observer took out his tool he had previously used to insert the tech into Olivia.

"I will take it out."

"Wait…"

Before Olivia could finish her sentence, the Observer was behind her with the tool on her neck. He left it on longer this time as the device extracted. It hurt Olivia almost as much as putting the electric probe in. He finally removed the tool and Olivia put her hand to her neck. There was no longer a mark, signaling to her that the device had indeed been removed.

She turned around, but the Observer was gone.

The strange things around her never ceased.

There was a knock on her apartment door later that night. She went to answer it and saw Peter there.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she laughed.

"Well, these last few days have been a little crazy for both of us."

"Yeah, but it all helped us figure out where that psycho Observer was and how to stop him."

"True," Peter admitted.

"You wanna come inside for a drink?"

"Sure. Your sister still here?"

"Yeah, but she and Ella are asleep. They've been apartment shopping for the past few days," Olivia explained.

"So she's really considering moving here?"

"Yeah, but I'm worried she's making that kind of decision too soon."

"Well, it's her life."

There was a silence as Olivia poured a drink for both of them.

"Uh," Olivia started. "September came to see me again."

"What?" Peter exclaimed. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, Peter, I'm fine. He took the tech out of me, see?" She pushed her hair away from her neck to show Peter that the mark had disappeared.

They set their glasses on the table.

Peter looked at her. "You're sure he didn't hurt you?"

"Well, getting the tech out didn't feel good, but it didn't kill me. Getting that electric probe in was worse than that."

He put his hand on her hair. He felt the soft lusciousness of it intertwined between his fingers.

"If something happened to you, I don't know what I'd do," he said softly.

The two of them leaned closer to one another as Olivia's breathing slightly quickened. She knew what was happening. But was she ready? After everything they had been through, it seemed like it.

Despite all of this, Olivia couldn't help but pull away. She smiled at him and looked away. Even though the kiss had been denied, there was no awkwardness in the air. Both of them were thinking the same thing, unbeknownst to the other. It just wasn't the right time. They were still trying to understand their feelings for each other. But they knew that it was just a matter of time before that kiss really happened.

"So," Olivia said, breaking the silence. "Maybe we should get to sleep. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? What strange, weird event we'll have next?"

Peter laughed and finished off his drink. "You're right about that!"

He walked to the door and started heading down the hall to the elevator. He turned.

"Good night, Olivia," he said.

"Good night, Peter," she answered.

Peter gave her one last smile and headed down the hall. Olivia shut the door and leaned against it. She let out a small chuckle and headed to bed, unaware of what tomorrow would bring, but sure that Peter would be there for her every step of the way.


End file.
